Wonderful 100: The Chinqua-Penn Plantation

Blog post contributed by Trey Kaufman, Special Collections Desk Assistant, and edited by Taylor Wolford, Special Collections Librarian.

Now sitting empty with no visitors, the historic Chinqua-Penn plantation in Reidsville, North Carolina, has undergone many changes in the last century. Originally constructed as a family manor for the Penns starting in 1923, it took over three years to complete the estate. In this time, a total of 27 rooms were built for the home, situated on a 23-acre estate, along with accompanying lodges for the plantation’s staff, gardens, and other buildings. Roughly 1,000 acres were also developed for agricultural endeavors and research away from the house.

The plantation house was built for Thomas “Jeff” Jefferson and Margaret "Betsy" Schoellkopf Penn. Jeff’s father co-founded the prosperous F. R. Penn Tobacco Company, which manufactured chewing and smoking tobacco. Betsy’s grandfather, Jacob Schoellkopf, founded the first company to generate hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls. In 1923, after Jeff and Betsy were married, they invested a significant sum of funds from accumulated wealth to create the opulent plantation and its grounds. The Penns built extensively on the property, which included multiple gardens, cattle and hog farms, and various architectural structures influenced from around the world. Architectural and design influences for the estate were drawn from China, England, France, and Italy, with many other nations and cultures represented throughout the home. These influences varied in size and style, encompassing everything from minor decorations and silverware to notable structures like a Chinese-style pagoda adorned with imported 13th-century statues.

After Jeff Penn passed away in 1949, Betsy started thinking about the estate's future. In 1959, she made the decision to donate the estate to the UNC System, along with a substantial endowment, all while retaining the right to live on the plantation. Betsy passed away in 1965, six years after she had given the estate to the UNC System for upkeep. 

Betsy entrusted the plantation to the care of the UNC System with the goal of preserving the estate and its usefulness for future generations. UNC Greensboro originally ran the estate, but NC State took over management of the property in 1986. 

During this period, NC State also conducted agricultural research on the property, which encompassed both crops and livestock. The agricultural research conducted on-site was bolstered by the Upper Piedmont Research Station (UPRS), which moved onto the estate grounds in 1954 and collaborated with NC State in agricultural research and land development. 

Both NC State and the UPRS continued to conduct research centered around beef cattle, tobacco, and grapes. On-site beef cattle research was aimed at improving breeding capabilities for beef farmers, primarily through the syncing of estrus cycles, improved artificial insemination, and early pregnancy detection. Along with this, research on feeding habits, fescue toxicity resistance, grain efficiency, and what feeders to use for herds was conducted. Tobacco research focused on optimizing tobacco growth and production, along with improving the curing process for different types of tobacco. Research on grape varieties focused on disease and pest resistance, along with improving yields. NC State conducted other important research projects on the grounds, such as the development of biofuel production and no-till practices for farmland.

Additionally, the estate property was the site of a 4-H center funded and constructed by the Penns, known as the Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Educational Center. The center was later owned and operated by NC State, and it continues to be managed by the university. To this day, the 4-H center offers a range of camps, field trips, and retreat spaces. 

The estate's operations proceeded smoothly in the following years, although financial concerns arose. Issues over funding forced Chinqua-Penn, at that time a local attraction and museum, to close its doors in 1991. The Chinqua-Penn Foundation, which was founded in 1993, reopened the estate’s doors in 1996 with assistance from NC State. Once again, the plantation functioned as both a local attraction and a research center. In the following years, securing funding from the state and other institutions remained difficult, leading to the closure of Chinqua-Penn's doors once again in 2003. This closure marked the end of the estate’s affiliation with the UNC System. The estate was sold in 2006 to a private buyer, who managed it until it was foreclosed upon in 2013, and many of the interior decorations were auctioned in a public sale. SunTrust acquired the property in 2013, only to sell it again in 2015, and the estate has remained privately owned since then. Despite these changes, the Upper Piedmont Research Station and Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Educational Center continue to run as intended by Betsy and Jeff Penn on the grounds of the Chinqua-Penn Plantation with assistance from NC State University. 

For further research, please refer the Chinqua-Penn Plantation Records held at the Special Collections Reseach Center. If you have any questions or are interested in viewing Special Collections materials, please contact us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu or submit a request online. The Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only. Appointments are available Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm and Saturday, 1pm–5pm. Requests for a Saturday appointment must be received no later than Tuesday of the same week.